Chapter 39: The Performative Personality? She Becomes Meek When No One's Around!

The moment the door was kicked open, Li Junsheng saw what was happening inside the room.

His youngest daughter lay on the floor, her clothes disheveled, a vivid slap mark clear on her face.

Ma Yulian was sitting atop Li Xiaoyu, her hands still poised in the act of snatching money. At this sight, fury surged within Li Junsheng.

"Ma Yulian! What do you think you're doing? Get up this instant!"

He barked at Ma Yulian to stop stealing the money and pushed her off Li Xiaoyu. He hurried to lift his youngest daughter from the ground, immediately concerned for her well-being.

"Xiaoyu, are you alright? Did you hurt yourself anywhere?"

Li Xiaoyu’s eyes were red, but she stubbornly held back her tears.

Seeing the glaring handprint on her face, Li Junsheng turned and demanded angrily of Ma Yulian, "Who gave you the right to hit her?"

Of all his children, Xiaoyu was the youngest, and in his previous life, she had been the first to pass away. Li Junsheng harbored deep guilt toward her, and now he could not bear to see her hurt.

Feigning composure, Ma Yulian pointed at Li Xiaoyu and retorted, "I’m her mother—why can’t I discipline her? This ungrateful child! I raised her for nothing. I found her a good family to marry into, and she still refuses!"

"And what are you pretending for? If you knew she was having inappropriate relationships outside, you’d be even angrier than I am."

"Enough! Is this how you talk about your own daughter?"

Li Junsheng glared at Ma Yulian, then turned to gently ask Li Xiaoyu about her supposed relationship.

But Li Xiaoyu only thought he was playing along with Ma Yulian, convinced that he truly was drunk and not sincere about wanting to split the family.

With her eyes brimming with tears, Li Xiaoyu pulled the money from her pocket and shoved it into Li Junsheng’s arms.

Then, she ran out crying.

"Xiaoyu, where are you going?"

She gave him no chance to speak. Li Junsheng tried to chase after her, but she was gone in a flash, disappearing out the door.

Turning back, Li Junsheng fixed Ma Yulian with a stormy glare. Who knew what spiteful things she had said to Xiaoyu just now, to make the girl flee in such despair?

He had only exchanged a few words with his second son, asking him to take the money and keep Xiaowei in the hospital a couple more days, and in that brief time, Ma Yulian had called Xiaoyu into the room to force her into marriage.

Strangely, this time, Ma Yulian’s attempt to marry off her daughter had come a bit earlier than in his previous life. Perhaps it was because he had managed to take all the money from her, leaving Ma Yulian desperate enough to set her sights on her youngest daughter and hasten the marriage plans.

The man Ma Yulian wanted her daughter to marry was no good—an ex-convict, nine years Xiaoyu’s senior. No one wanted to marry him; he was only willing to pay six hundred yuan as a bride price, yet even so, no parent would send their daughter into such misery.

Only Ma Yulian, so devoid of conscience, would harm her own daughter like this.

Facing Li Junsheng’s dark, thunderous gaze, Ma Yulian felt guilty but tried to maintain her bravado. "What are you looking at? I arranged for the fourth child to marry, got the bride price, and you’d still take the money, wouldn’t you? With no job, you’ll have to rely on your children from now on."

Li Junsheng’s chest heaved with rage. Pointing at her, he shouted, "Even if I, Li Junsheng, am useless, I would never sell my daughter for money. Do you call yourself a mother? Even a tigress won’t eat her own cubs. How can you treat your daughter this way?"

"Can’t you be human? Not even a stepmother could be as cruel as you—beating and twisting the children. This family is in chaos all because of you!"

"Pah! Now you’re lecturing me? That wretched girl is as disobedient as she is because she takes after you. If she listened, would I have to hit her?"

"Do you know what she just did? She threatened me with her own death, as if that would make me surrender. Who cares if she lives or dies!"

"If she died, it’d be less trouble for me. They say I’m vicious, blame me for hitting her, but what well-behaved daughter would act like her?"

Ma Yulian spat viciously on the ground, her words as venomous as could be.

Her meaning was clear: anyone who defied her deserved to die.

Li Junsheng wanted to reason with her, but the two of them held such different values that it was futile.

Ma Yulian also noticed the money that had fallen from Li Junsheng’s arms onto the floor. She had no time for argument; getting her hands on that cash was her priority.

She bent over to snatch it up.

Li Junsheng’s eyes flashed coldly as he seized her outstretched hand and slapped her hard across the face.

A crisp crack rang out with Ma Yulian’s scream as Li Junsheng knocked her to the ground.

"You dare hit me! Li Junsheng, I’ll fight you to the end!"

Clutching her cheek, Ma Yulian stared in disbelief.

Coming to her senses, she lunged at Li Junsheng again, only to be pushed aside once more.

Her shouting drew their second son, Li Guohua, and Li Chun’ya.

Seeing Ma Yulian in such a sorry state, the two siblings were bewildered.

"Father, Mother, what happened? Let’s talk this through!"

Li Chun’ya tried to soothe her parents gently, while Li Junsheng, suppressing his anger, said to his children, "You two stay out of this. Today, I must teach her a lesson, or else she’ll sell your sister into misery for six hundred yuan!"

Ma Yulian, clutching her face, wailed, "How could you say that, Li Junsheng? I’ve only been thinking of that wretched girl’s future—if she marries there, she’ll want for nothing. They can offer six hundred yuan for the bride price, clearly they’re not lacking money."

"She says she’s seeing someone, but who knows what sort of man she found herself. I did it all for her, yet you beat me. I want a divorce!"

Li Junsheng stared at Ma Yulian, his voice icy. "Fine, then divorce. If you want to cry, get out and cry. Don’t bother making excuses here."

With that, he turned and led his children away, leaving Ma Yulian alone.

She was the type who thrived on an audience—take it away, and she’d cease her wailing.

Li Junsheng quickly picked up all the money on the floor; he would not leave Ma Yulian a single cent.

Returning to the living room, he felt a headache coming on. It was getting late, so he said to Li Chun’ya, "Chun’ya, it’s not early. Let me take you home first."

Li Chun’ya, worried about her sister, replied, "Dad, Xiaoyu ran out—will she be alright? Shouldn’t we go find her first?"

She wasn’t in any rush to go home, though Sun Gui, waiting on the side, was growing impatient—but Li Chun’ya ignored him. Her sister was more important than her husband.

She, too, disapproved of Ma Yulian’s attempt to force her sister into marriage for six hundred yuan.

One unhappy marriage in the family was enough—her own.

Li Chun’ya just wanted her sister to find happiness.

Li Junsheng looked anxiously at the wide-open door, worried that his youngest daughter, distressed, might do something rash—perhaps even earlier than in their previous life.

Since Ma Yulian’s forced marriage scheme had come sooner this time, perhaps Xiaoyu’s desperate act would also come sooner.